Monday, November 14, 2011
Pre-Thanksgiving
So last night we had Pre-Thanksgiving and it was sooo worth it! We had all the same foods we do on Thanksgiving day and since Cory and I are going to Idaho for Thanksgiving this year it doesn't feel like we missed this holiday with his family.
The only downside to having Pre-Thanksgiving is that I immediately wanted to go home and put up the Christmas decorations. Since Cory has a strict "no Christmas decorations or Christmas music until after Thanksgiving" rule, I have to wait a couple more weeks. Oh well. I don't know anyone who would complain about getting two Thanksgiving dinners :)
Thankful
- I am so thankful for this little girl in my life. She has helped me to have a new perspective on life and I just love her!
2. I am thankful for a wonderful family who supports me and loves me unconditionally.
3. I am thankful to live in a country where so many freedoms and opportunities exist.
4. I am thankful for my awesome husband who is always there for me and who gives me someone to look to to become a better person.
5. I am thankful for Christ's perfect love for me and how it gives me an opportunity to improve everyday no matter how bad yesterday was.
6. I am thankful for Christmas music, hot chocolate, and fuzzy socks.
7. I am thankful for my in-laws. They are always so helpful and they have become more like my 'real' family and not just people I am acquainted with because of marriage. They are so fun to watch with Cailyn.
8. I am thankful for an education.
9. I am thankful for Cory's brownies and cheesy potato soup.
10. I am thankful for Thanksgiving because it gives me the opportunity to think of all the great blessings in my life.
Monday, October 24, 2011
One Month
Since our family loves to celebrate and will use any excuse to get together and have a party, Cory and I decided to have a fun little dinner for Cailyn's one month birthday. We had "soup night." We made a bunch of different kinds of soups and finished it off with pear crisp. Although Cailyn slept through most of it, it was still fun to get together and celebrate our little girl.
I didn't get any pictures of the dinner so here are a few recent ones of Cailyn.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Nothin But Cute
Saturday, October 1, 2011
New Addition
Cailyn's original due date was October 2nd and Cory and I were actually taking our last trip as a couple without kids in Salt Lake. For our "babymoon" we went out to a fancy dinner at Zy's restaurant and then went back to the hotel room and watched a movie. Later in the evening we went on a walk outside of our hotel to get some fresh air. Shortly after we returned to the room my water broke. I hadn't experienced any contractions so we weren't in a huge hurry to get to the hospital, but I still wanted to get going since we had to drive from Salt Lake all the way to Provo.
On the way to the hospital, I started getting contractions which made me nervous because we were at a dead stop on the freeway because of construction. So by the time we got to the hospital, my contractions were coming every 4 minutes. The nurses hooked me up to all of the monitors and they immediately started to worry because the baby's heart rate was extremely fast. So after trying 3 different monitors the doctor finally came in and looked at an ultrasound of the baby's heart. Cailyn's heart was going 270 beats per minute which is about twice what it should be at.
As soon as the doctor saw how fast her heart was going, everyone moved into action and I gave birth about 15 minutes later via c-section. Cory had time to call his parents at 3.47 and Cailyn was born at 4:08. As soon as she was born her heart rate went back to normal and she has been healthy and happy ever since! We are so lucky to have a healthy little girl and we are extremely grateful for the awesome hospital staff who did a great job.
It has been really fun to get to know this little baby and welcome her into our lives. We feel so blessed to have had such a good experience at the hospital when things could have gone in a completely different direction.
We love you Cailyn! So excited that you are here!
Here are some pictures from her first couple of weeks.
Monday, November 2, 2009
BB & B Friends & Family Day
Friday, October 9, 2009
What a Week
So this is my public health plug for the month. Sick people please stay home so you don't get other people sick. People who haven't gotten vaccinated for the flu yet, you really need to do it. This year's flu is killer. And employers don't be mean to your employees when they call and tell you they have the flu. The End.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Belated Horse Show Post
Here are a few pictures from the last horse show we went to. It was a ton of fun and it was great to get to compete again.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Weekend Sweet Weekend
Since Cory doesn't have a good jumping horse to compete on he won't be riding with me, but it will still be fun to have him there to help me out. I haven't competed in over a year and I can't wait! Handsome has been doing great lately and I think we are both happier when we have something to work towards.
This picture was taken in Virginia during a jumping lesson.

So wish me luck and hopefully I'll have more pictures to post later!
Friday, June 12, 2009
The Need for Speed (in a VW Jetta 1.8L TDI)
So Ciara and I were driving home the other day, talking about fast cars when she says, "I'm surprised this one can do 160..." I respond with, "just because the speedometer goes up to 160 doesn't mean the car can actually go that fast." Then a brief silence fell over the car, and she says, "...this one can."At first I thought she was just joking around, I didn't imagine the little 4-banger diesel surviving anything much above 100. However, I insisted that she tell me just how she knew that our "mellow" little Jetta could go so fast. To my surprise there was a story:
Not too long after purchasing her car, she was driving through some remote part of Wyoming and her mom was sleeping in the front seat. Since the drive is not exactly exhilarating (and since her nuclear-safety-engineer mother was safely asleep), she decided to see just what her new little car could do. She pushed the pedal to the floor and listened to that little 1.8 liter diesel engine kick to life. She didn't let off until that little orange needle had settled down at the far-right side of the speedometer...160 mph. Fearing that her mom might wake up (and soon thereafter die of a heart attack), she slowed back down to a normal, remote-Wyoming-road pace.
...I'm pretty sure that was the COOLEST story I've ever heard! Does anyone have something like a BMW M6 that we could borrow for a day? I wanna pretend to fall asleep in the front seat while she's driving and see what happens!
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
"Crick" or "Creek"
While we were there we also got to see a lot of baby horses that were in the field behind my aunt's house. They were pretty far away so we attempted to get closer by bringing some carrots with us to see if the horses were interested. A family friend (who is not a horse person) decided she wanted to come with us, but instead of bringing some carrots, she thought the horses would respond better if she brought cheese. That was pretty funny because if you know anything about horses at all you would understand that horses DEFINITELY don't eat cheese!
I also had the wonderful opportunity of getting my hair dyed and touched up by my aunt. We had planned to do it the previous day so that I could pick up all the stuff. The only problem was that when the time came to actually dye it, I discovered that my aunt had been having a little too much fun and was a little tipsy if you know what I mean (my family on that side have been known to be some pretty furious party animals).
Even though she was tipsy, I decided to take a gamble and let her dye it anyway. Luckily I still have hair on my head and the dye job didn't turn out too bad either! I just might ask her to dye it again sometime... I'm curious to know how good of a job she would do if she was sober : )

Thursday, May 28, 2009
Confessions of a Rehabilitated Trekkie
...I once proudly considered myself a trekkie (granted I was about 11 years old). I used to get together with my best friends Tyler and David and we'd pretend to be various characters from Star Trek. We would choose a Star Trek series (e.g. the original series, "the Next Generation," etc.) and spend hours flying around in our Federation starship fighting off Klingons and Romulans...that is if we weren't playing as Klingons or Romulans...
We also used to go to the public library and check out all of the old Star Trek movies on VHS and watch them repeatedly. I would also check out as many "non-fiction" Star Trek books as possible so I could fill my little head with the dimensions and top speeds of star ships, defining attributes of various intergalactic races, how to sew your own command officer's uniform, etc.
When my mom would occasionally let me rent an Super Nintendo game, I would try to find the "Star Trek Starfleet Academy Starship Bridge Simulator" game. Also, I was ecstatic when my cousin Brian got a similar computer game for Christmas...we spent many hours cruising through the "final frontier" of space.
..We won't mention the action figures or the Star Trek badge that was frequently attached to my shirt.
Thankfully I'm well past all of that. Needless to say, I kept all of this a secret until I was already happily married and beyond the threat of having Ciara wanting it annulled.
Anyway, the new movie is lots of fun, but definitely gave me flashbacks of my dark past...Live Long and Prosper.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Credit Card Slayer

Well, this last weekend we went to the Dave Ramsey seminar at the E Center in West Valley. It was really good. My dad wants us all to learn how to manage finances well and stay out of debt; so, last Christmas he got us all Dave's book Total Money Makeover and gave us all tickets to his seminar (which took place last Saturday).
I liked it a lot, he explained a series of steps that we need to take to get out of debt (and avoid any more of it), have enough money for emergencies, start a college fund, and build wealth. It was all very practical advice and didn't involve any crazy financial antics. The whole idea is not to buy something if you don't have the money for it...quite a novel idea.
It was a pretty fantastic Christmas present. Ciara and I are taking the challenge and are going to get rid of all our debt. Even though there's not all that much of it, it's something we can do without.
Anyway, check out the Dave Ramsey website (http://www.daveramsey.com). He's got a lot of good stuff on there. Nothing crazy either; just good sound advice.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
A Fork in the Eye
Anyway, they're finished now. School is done, so now I can get back to my regular fishing schedule. It's been WAY too long since I've been able to go. I've got a couple months left of my fishing license, and I plan on making up for all my lost fishing time during the semester.Other exciting news: I'm still getting into the whole horse jumping thing. Now I can ride a whole course without falling off and getting a mouthful of dirt.
Aso, Ciara's birthday is this Tuesday so we had a little celebration at my parents' house tonight. It was a lot of fun.
...Anyway, I'm kinda out of it tonight so I'm going to wrap this one up. Have a good night everyone!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Pasta Recipe
Pioneer Woman’s Pasta Primavera
Ingredients:
Butter
Olive Oil
3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
½ to 1 small onion, finely chopped
1 cup broccoli, cut into bite-sized florets and stem pieces
2 carrots, peeled and sliced on the bias
2 zucchini, sliced on the bias
1 yellow squash, sliced on the bias
½ red bell pepper, cut into strips
1 package white or brown button mushrooms, sliced
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup whipping (heavy) cream
1 cup half and half, plus a little more for thinning sauce
1 small wineglass of white wine
Low-sodium chicken broth as needed
6-8 fresh basil leaves
Grated Parmesan Cheese
Salt
Pepper
Penne pasta
Directions:
In a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add onion and garlic and cook until translucent, about 2 minutes. Now begin sautéing the veggies in batches, cooking only 1 or 2 minutes (at most) each. To begin, add broccoli and carrots to onion & garlic. Cook only for a minute, then remove to separate plate. Add another tablespoon of butter to pan and add red pepper strips. Cook for one minute, then remove. Repeat with remaining veggies, being very careful not to overcook; veggies at this point should still be somewhat raw/crunchy. When all veggies have been removed and skillet is empty, pour ½ to 1 glass of dry white wine to pan. With whisk, begin to scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen all the nice, flavorful bits from the bottom.
Cooking over medium heat, add ½ cup low-sodium chicken broth, 1 tablespoon butter, 1
cup whipping cream, and 1 cup half and half. Add ½ cup grated Parmesan. Stir together and cook to thick, adding salt & pepper to taste. Taste sauce as you go; don’t oversalt, but don’t undersalt either! Chiffonade fresh basil leaves, and stir into sauce. Now add all the veggies, including frozen peas, at once. Stir gently to combine; if sauce seems to thick, add equal parts half & half and chicken broth to thin. Cook over low heat until warm, just a couple of minutes.
You don’t want soggy veggies! Taste & check seasoning; add more salt & pepper if needed. Dump in al dente penne pasta, stir to combine thoroughly, and pour onto a large platter. Garnish with more basil leaves, throw on some more Parmesan, and gobble it up!
Enjoy!
Friday, March 27, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Our "Spring Break"
So Cory and I decided to make our own spring break since BYU is too stingy to give us one. After much contemplation, Cory booked our hotel through hotwire. If you have never tried out hotwire I highly recommend it. Basically you pick what rating of hotel you want to stay at and you pay a discounted rate. However, the catch is that they don't tell you what hotel you will be staying at until after you pay. So we picked a four star hotel and ended up at the Hilton in Salt Lake. It ended up being really convenient since it is within walking distance of all the restaurants we were thinking about trying.
For dinner, we walked down the street to the Hotel Monaco where they have the restraunt Bambara. It was soooo good! Plus, we stayed at the Hotel Monaco after our wedding so it was fun to go back. After dinner, we just went back to our hotel room and rented a movie. It was so nice to just be able to forget about school and work and relax, even if it was only for one night. So thanks Cory for planning such a fun little getaway!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Sex & Drugs

Anyway, I've been continuing my adventures in horse jumping (and doing pretty well, if I say so myself). However, I fell off of a horse this past Saturday. I'd been trying to get a particular jump down, and was having a hard time with it. It was (supposedly) my final attempt, but something went wrong. After landing, I ended up in front of the saddle and hanging a little to the left. I tried to re-balance, but the horse gods had doomed me to fall. I accepted my fate and half lept, half fell off the horse. I must have had some good momentum considering how many times I bounced; in fact, I kind of rolled and bounced right back onto my feet...kind of.
I quite literally bit the dust. The trainer called at me to get back on the horse and "actually do it right this time." I stumble back to my semi-faithful steed and climb back on. As I line up for the jump, I can feel the dirt pouring out of my ears and can still feel the sandy grit in my teeth. I can hardly see because my eyes are also full of dirt. Apparently being nearly blind and punch drunk was the ticket: I finally got the set of jumps right. The only bad thing though: I knew that there was more than just "dirt" in the dirt...manure tastes like it smells...
REAL Lemonade
Lemonade is probably my favorite thing to drink, but I really get sick of the over-sugared, frozen, concentrated junk they sell at the grocery store...it's really pretty nasty. I think it's much easier and cheaper to make make it yourself. Not to mention it tastes WAY better than anything you can buy in the store.1 c. water
1 c. sugar
1 c. fresh lemon juice (usually takes 4 or 5 lemons)
3-4 c. of additional cold water
1. Boil 1 cup of water
2. Add 1 cup of sugar, and stir until completely dissolved (this just makes a simple syrup)
3. Stir in the lemon juice
4. Stir in another 3-4 cups of water (depending how how strong you like it)
5. Put it in the fridge until it's cold (or just pour it over ice if you want it now)
That's all there is to it. It's fantastic and super easy. Also, if you prefer pink lemonade, just add some juice from a fresh squeezed grapefruit.























